This invention relates to control apparatus for controlling a motion picture target apparatus for use in the training of marksmanship, and to such target apparatus provided with control apparatus according to the present invention.
Motion picture target apparatus mainly consists of a screen formed of paper or other suitable flexible material carried by rollers and arranged so that two parallel portions of the screen are superposed one in front of the other, means for illuminating the rear side of the screen so that when both superposed portions are pierced by a projectile fired at the screen the illumination passes through the holes and indicates the result of the shot, means for moving the screen on the rollers so that said superposed portions are moved relative to each other in opposite directions to move the holes out of alignment with each other, a projector for projecting a motion picture film onto the front of the screen, means for initiating an electric signal upon the firing of a projectile at the screen and which after a predetermined period of time which simulates the travel time of a projectile stops the film in the projector, and means operable upon stopping of the film to move the projected image vertically upwardly to simulate the trajectory of the projectile. Such apparatus will hereafter be referred to as "motion picture target apparatus of the kind referred to".
In use of the apparatus of the kind referred to, the user of the weapon from which the projectile is fired sees on the screen a moving filmed image which is at a simulated range which is different from the actual constant range between the weapon and the target, i.e. the screen. For example the actual range or distance between the screen and the weapon may be 12 meters whereas the filmed range which he is aiming at may be at a simulated range of 500 meters. Therefore in order to provide for the difference between the simulated and actual ranges it is necessary to stop the film after a predetermined period of time has elapsed after firing the shot in order to simulate the travel time of the projectile and to then move the stationary projected image vertically upwardly to simulate the trajectory of the fired projectile. The stopping of the film is usually achieved by an electrical signal initiated by a microphone which picks-up the sound of the shot being fired from the weapon. The vertical movement of the stationary projected image can be carried out by providing a movable mirror system on the projector or by mounting the projector on a pivotable carrier so that the projector is tilted in order to move the stationary image vertically upwardly.
The ballistic performance of the projectiles for any given range varies from one type of weapon to another and upon the calibre of the projectile and the known apparatus of the kind referred to has to be adjusted manually so that the film stopping time and the distance of vertical movement of the image is compatible with the ballistic performance of the projectile to be fired. With known apparatus of the kind referred to the travel times and the trajectories for particular ranges had to be extracted from tables of ballistic performance for a particular projectile and weapon and a plurality of manually operable controls had to be adjusted on the apparatus before the weapon was fired. When the simulated range of the projected image varied during projection of the film an operator had to manually adjust the plurality of controls during the projection time of the film and due to the length of time taken to adjust the controls the operator either made the adjustments too late which led to inaccuracies or tended to set the controls to one setting and leave them at that setting. For this reason it was previously throught not possible to use apparatus of the kind referred to with projected film wherein the simulated range varied and it was therefore limited to the use of film where the target moved across the screen at right angles to the user of the weapon.